The present invention relates to a wheel support assembly for a vehicle, and more particularly to a wheel support assembly including a support arm having a bearing seated in thermal communication within the support arm that rotatably supports a wheel of the vehicle, such that the support arm absorbs a portion of the heat generated by the bearing during rotation of the wheel and inhibits the heat from transferring to the wheel.
Vehicles, such as material handling vehicles (e.g., pallet trucks, reach trucks, counterbalance trucks, tow tractors, order pickers, etc.), utility carts, wagons, etc. incorporate wheels in a variety of roles, such as a drive wheel, a steering wheel, a support wheel, or some combination thereof. In some configurations, the wheel includes a metallic hub and a resilient tire (e.g., polyurethane) that is molded about the hub. One or more bearings are generally press-fit into the hub. An axle then extends through the bearing(s) and is rotatably fixed at one or more ends to a support arm. As a result, the bearing(s) within the hub allows the wheel to rotate about the fixed axle.
By nesting the bearing within the hub, a large portion of the heat generated by the bearing during rotation of the wheel is transferred into the hub. As the temperature of the hub increases, the tire about the hub is also subjected to increased temperatures. Oftentimes this heat negatively influences the bond between the hub and the tire, thereby ultimately reducing the operational life of the wheel.
Increased market demands for efficiency have compounded the issues. For instance, in the material handling industry increased load carried by the wheels, smaller wheel diameters, and higher rotational velocities of the wheels tend to exacerbate the heat generated during operation of the bearing, further impacting the useful life of a wheel. Moreover, integral bearing-wheel configurations (e.g., a bearing that is press-fit in the hub of a wheel) are often replaced as a single unit when either the bearing or wheel fails, even though the other component may still have a substantial amount of remaining useful life.
Therefore, a need exists for an improved wheel support assembly for a vehicle that better manages thermodynamic considerations of modern vehicles.